Margaret Early

Margaret Early was an American actress born on December 25, 1919, in Alabama, who worked in both Hollywood film and on Broadway during the 1930s and 1940s. She died on November 29, 2000, at her home in Laguna Beach, California, from congestive heart failure at the age of 80. She is interred at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, California.

Early grew up on a farm near Birmingham, Alabama, in a devout Episcopal family. A business trip to Hollywood with her father led to an audition for Harold Lloyd's Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals, where director Gregory La Cava observed her performance. She subsequently signed with RKO. Her Alabama roots gave her a pronounced Southern accent, which Donald Kirkley of The Baltimore Sun described in a column as "as sweet and thick as cream."

Her screen debut came in Stage Door (1937), alongside Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Adolphe Menjou. The following year she appeared at Warner Bros. in Jezebel (1938), playing the daughter of Spring Byington's character in a cast that included Bette Davis, George Brent, and Fay Bainter. Early subsequently worked as a freelance actress across multiple studios, including RKO, Warner Bros., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her film credits from this period include Judge Hardy and Son (1939), Strike Up the Band (1940), Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941), and Stage Door Canteen (1943). Her final screen appearance was in Cinderella Jones (1946).

In addition to her film work, Early appeared on Broadway in 1943 in the farce Try and Get It. Following her years in the entertainment industry, she settled in Laguna Beach, California, where she remained active in her church and the Republican Party.